THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today threw out Chua Tian Chang’s legal challenge against the Election Commission over his disqualification to stand in the Batu parliamentary seat, saying it was not in the position to arbitrate election disputes.

The former Batu MP, better known as Tian Chua, will appeal today’s decision and is urging his supporters to vote for P. Prabakaran, a 22-year-old independent candidate.

“We will not allow BN to win through the back door,” he said after the decision today.

“Praba has agreed to carry Pakatan Harapan’s mission and banner. He will work closely with all my team members.

“From tonight onwards, we will begin a full-swing campaign to ensure Praba wins the Batu seat. The people will not accept BN’s dirty backdoor tactic. We will be urging the people to vote for his symbol, which is a key.”

Chua described Prabakaran as young and energetic.

“We hope to groom him to be an activist of PKR’s standards,” he said.

When asked if Prabakaran would be joining PKR, Chua said: “We are concerned about winning the elections first. We want to make sure PH does not lose Batu.”

Justice Nordin Hassan ruled earlier that he had no jurisdiction to determine the validity of the returning officer’s objections nor to grant the declaration sought by Tian Chua.

He added that the dispute should be resolved via an election petition, stipulated under Article 118 of the federal constitution, and that the matter should be heard before an election judge.

Gurdial Singh, Chua’s lead counsel, said the former PKR lawmaker would be appealing the decision.

“This is an abdication of the judge’s duty.

“A wider and more critical question, which requires to be ventilated at the Court of Appeal, is the legal status of a person in Tian Chua’s position, wherein the courts had (previously) said he was not disqualified (for receiving a separate RM2,000 fine),” Gurdial said.

Gurdial said Parliament speaker Apandi Ali had previously ruled that Chua was qualified as a lawmaker and that the EC had accepted his candidacy in the 2013 elections despite a similar fine. – May 4, 2018.